Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch is known to to take a step back into history when it comes to her creations on stage, as seen in previous plays such as What a Young Wife Ought to Know which dated back to pre-birth control days. This time she decided to take a climb into her family tree to deliver us a story based around her own great-grandparents which started in 1908 on Halifax’s very own Pier 2 before we see them move to Montreal.

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is produced by Halifax’s own 2B Theatre and takes us on a journey through the eyes of Chaim and Chaya (Eric Da Costa and Mary Fay Coady), two Jewish immigrants fleeing religious persecution in Romania. The play dives deep into the refugee crisis of past and present. The title was created from a comment made by Stephen Harper back in 2015 who tried to draw a distinction between Old Stock Canadians and Refugees.

Narrating 19-year-old Chaim and 24-year-old Chaya along their journey is none other than the extravagant Ben Caplan, who helped create the play alongside director and songwriter Christian Barry and Moscovitch. This beautiful bearded specimen goes by the name The Wanderer and spits powerful klezmer inspired songs as we watch the story unfold behind him inside a shipping container. From here it’s obvious that Caplan – in his obnoxious top hat – will be the focus of our attention.

The musicians also play the roles which makes Eric Da Costa and Mary Fay Coady work double-duty as they jump from Chaim and Chaya to also playing violin and woodwinds. The other members of the band being Jeff Kingsbury on percussion and Kelsey McNulty on accordion and keyboard.

As Chaim and Chaya wait in line to see a doctor, we learn that Chaya has lost her husband in Russia as they were trying to flee and is still heartbroken. Chaim,we find out that he saw his family get killed in pogrom. The tail of their two tragedies seems to bring them together as Chaim finally wins over Chaya’s heart when they meet again in Montreal.

As they continue their lives together they are met with many challenges along the way that threaten their own marriage, until the sudden sickness, and the thought of potentially losing their recently born son happens to bring them close together again.

The musical numbers pull you in some of them even tug on your heartstrings, but that’s to be expected with Ben Caplan as the crooner. His eccentric voice fills the theatre as we listen to him belt out numbers which make us understand why the play got a 18+ advisory. With lyrics delving into the Bibles unwritten laws, sex, adultery and death. A standout number being “Truth Doesn’t Live in a Book” where Caplan provides numerous and hilarious euphemisms for doing the dirty aka ‘gland to gland combat’ or ‘interior dick-orating’.

With a grin on Caplan’s face we are tossed into the present as we see the couple have finally made it through thick and thin with their family in tote. Chaim (Da Costa’s) enthusiasm proves a perfect counterpart to Chaya (Coady’s) domineering attitude. In other words, the acting was top notch and everyone worked beautifully together. Old Stock is a must see, it had us laughing yet it still managed to deliver such an emotional story all in one 80-minute package.

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story has extended its run at Halifax’s Neptune Theatre until Nov 23rd, 2019.

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